Dota 2 breaks 900,000 players for the first time since 2019 on the back of The International 2022 Swag Bag mess

The last 24 hours have been a real trip for Dota 2 fans. Hundreds of thousands of players have jumped back online for the first time and brought Valve’s servers down to their knees—all because they wanted to claim a free Arcana. 

As a result of announcing The International 2022 Swag Bag, which included a number of free goodies that anyone can claim just by playing a few matches, Dota’s player base skyrocketed overnight. In less than a day, Dota 2 became the most-played game on Steam, breaking 900,000 concurrent players for the first time in more than three years.